Saving in Games: Part 3 - Save Points Revisited

The nicest thing about having a blog is that you can break promises and no one will care. I previously hinted that, in today's post, I would give examples of how to take Save Points out of many familiar games and still keep them challenging and fun.

But yesterday, after having a discussion with Patrick Coyne (fellow long-time video game enthusiast), I instead decided to address some of the points he brought up regarding my previous post, as I think they do deserve some discussion.

One of the points he brought up was that I make the claim that using Save Points to make games hard is a bad thing. Then, I proceed to talk about how Save Points affect a game like Resident Evil. He points out that, well, Resident Evil is an awesome game and that it is definitely not hurt by the Save Point system used (the typewriters and ink ribbons).

Well, he's right. The original Resident Evil is a great game, and the Save Points certainly do nothing to hinder the game. In fact, the game is enhanced by having the system in place. By not letting you save every time you find a typewriter, the fear of death is elevated. It gives a proper sense of loss and despair when you die in that game. Resident Evil's success lies predominantly in its ability to generate that fear in players and the save system gives the players a better experience. Plus, having certain specific places you can save really adds to the atmosphere, with the aura of comfort and rest that accompanies every save room and allows players to temporarily lower their stress level.

The main reason I used Resident Evil in my previous post is that it's the perfect example of just how strongly Save Points can affect a game. Some games do need Save Points, I admit. But, like in Resident Evil, they need to be implemented properly and must add to what experience they are going for. Resident Evil's Save Point system is well-thought-out and adds to its atmosphere. Using Save Points to affect other games may not be the right thing to do.

Let's look at some more examples of proper Save Point usage by looking at other games from the same survival horror genre. First up: the Silent Hill series. Unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill allows you to save endlessly, with no ink ribbons to hold you back. Shouldn't limiting your save add to the fear as well, by limiting the amount of times you can save? No, because for this game it is inappropriate. Silent Hill doesn't succeed by making players fear death. Silent Hill succeeds because it makes players fear moving on. The game is so psychological that death might actually start seeming like a relief. Wondering what that thing on the other side of the metal rails is, wondering what the hell that stuff coming out of the bathtub in the mirror is, wondering where that disturbing noise is coming from -- that's where the fear comes from.

One last game comparison from the genre: Resident Evil 4. This game lets you save at typewriters for free: no ink ribbons needed. So why does this game work so well when I just said Resident Evil needs the limitation of not always being able to save? Well, it's because their focus changed. Resident Evil 4 is more of an action game, and action games derive their enjoyment factor from a very different area: getting past the presented obstacles. For action games, the occasional Save Point is the proper way of doing it. The reason why it's not a problem is because, for action games, the fun is making it through a section without getting killed. So even if you have to stop your game at a moment's notice, there is never really any regret shutting the game off and starting from the previous Save Point. You will have fun again the next time you have to redo that area you just did. The Save Points in Resident Evil 4 just represent the next level. Seeing a typewriter in RE4 is the exact same thing as seeing Contra tell you that you are now in Area 3.

So those are examples of where the Save System works and is appropriate. But now let's look at games that utilize Save Points that don't need to: Metroid Prime and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow again. What is the point of the two games? Though they look entirely different, both games are virtually identical. Their main goal: exploration. Both games give the players the ability to find hidden corridors, open new areas, and discover weapons and powers that will allow them to reach new unexplored areas. Fear of death is not what either game is about. In fact, outside of boss encounters, hardly anyone ever dies in either game.

So what is the point of running to Save Points to save in these particular games? Once you've discovered a new area, you don't want to go and discover that path again if you are killed somehow. That's no longer discovering anything, so where's the joy in that? So let the player keep the areas of the map they've found even after they die. Let the players keep the visor scans they got during their previous run. If you find a hidden missile pack in Metroid Prime, you've just increased your missile count from 155 to 160. You're not gaining a huge advantage, so why make the player go get it again if they die? No one wants to explore and discover stuff they've already explored and discovered.

The only reason to have Save Points is to give a player a starting point after turning the game off. As I mentioned yesterday, I think they just need to have "Continue Points" instead that a player can choose to activate. Thus, when they continue the game tomorrow, that's where they will begin their adventure. The original Metroid automatically did this for you (starting at the entrance of every world), and I think that's a perfectly fine system.

Now let's look at one last example of poor Save Point usage. I give you Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. Let me pose to you the question that all game designers should ask themselves: what does the Save Points add to the game? To the credit of Ubisoft, they've managed to add nice touches to their Save Points throughout the series (giving him premonitions of the platforming to come, for example), but these touches need not be necessarily tied to Save Points. For example, they could be tied to power-ups or they could just happen whenever you reach a new section. No, for this game the Save Points only provide you the same thing they provided in Metroid Prime and Dawn of Sorrow: places you can start again after you load a saved game.

What's the true joy of Prince of Persia? It's the platforming and the puzzles. For every new area you get to, the fun comes from examining your surroundings and figuring out to get from A to B and then actually performing the actions that take you from A to B. Once you get to B, new entertainment comes from finding out how to get from B to C. And so on and so forth. But if you stop the game before C and there was no Save Point at B, you have to do A to B again. Why? It becomes more of a chore that you have to put up with now. Originally, it was really fun spending the 25 minutes figuring out how to pass the area. Now, the 10 minutes it takes to do it again sucks. Congratulations! You've just transformed an area of your game from a good memory to a bad memory.

Even when you are killed in the game, they do not start you from the previous Save Point. For example, in The Two Thrones, after one of the (really awful) Chariot Sequences, you end up at a boss battle. If you die at the boss, you start your next life at... guess where! The boss! You don't need to do the (really awful) Chariot Sequence again. So if I turned the game off during the boss fight and came back to play tomorrow, why do I need to do the (really awful) Chariot Sequence again? Why not just automatically save the game at each section and have you continue from there, whether it's after dying or loading a saved game?

In conclusion, my main complaint is not that Save Points are worthless or that they make games bad. There will be games that need them and some that don't. My main complaint is that, due to their newfound prevalence in console gaming, I feel like designers are resorting to them even though they don't need to. Game designers really need to think hard about Save Points and decide what they add to their gaming experience and really decide if they need them or not. Using them just 'cause every other game does or using them to help influence the difficulty of your game is just lazy design.

Next up: More on Save Points to discuss? Will there be a part 4? Stay tuned!